There is also a very good reason why the City of Roses is one of the three capital cities (judicial), in South Africa.

While the region is not as wealthy as other major centres across the country, it is the heart of South Africa and the veins tying the country together all run through it.

The same is to be said about the sport in the region. One does not have to look further than the sporting legends who have deep roots in the Free State. Names such as Hansie Cronjé, Allan Donald, André Venter, Juan Smith, Steve Komphela and Thabo Nthethe spring to mind when one thinks cricket, rugby, and football. Further sporting greats include the likes of Zola Budd, Wayde van Niekerk, and Ryk Neethling, to name a few.

Recently it came to light that Bloemfontein will not be playing host to the new T20 League in South Africa which will be contested in November and December. Cricket South Africa has made provisions for just six teams, and this has left many fuming, including the owners of the T20 Global League teams who are mainly international businessmen.

The Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein ranked 7th on the list of preferential stadiums to host the league.

All 11 of South Africa’s ICC accredited stadiums were afforded an opportunity by Cricket South Africa to bid for hosting rights. The Diamond Oval in Kimberley was the only stadium that opted not to bid.

Boland Park in Paarl ranked sixth as a preferred venue for one of the six teams, while Bloemfontein and the Buffalo Park in East London were allocated slots as the two reserve venues. This means that the city on the outskirts of Cape Town cracked the nod for a team ahead of the central region of the country.

SuperSport Park (Pretoria) is the top-rated ground, followed by Newlands (Cape Town), Wanderers (Johannesburg), Kingsmead (Durban), and St George’s Park (Port Elizabeth).

It is believed that the reason for Paarl winning hosting rights is because it is an economically strong and stable part of the country. This is largely due to Paarl being in the middle of the Cape Winelands, which is a major contributor to the economy of the Western Cape.

It is understood that the Mangaung Oval ranked sixth overall in the evaluation and Boland Park eighth, yet the team from the Western Cape was still chosen as the preferred venue.

There is a case to argue that Paarl does enjoy better crowd support than Bloemfontein, however, there are plans in place to commute cricket fans to the ground, much the same way Bloemfontein Celtic does for their football supporters. This will, in fact, introduce a whole new support base to the sport.

Cricket South Africa confirmed that they will be making an announcement either on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, with regards to the teams, venues, and the reason for venues being allocated to teams. The announcement was expected over the past weekend but was postponed as Cricket South Africa had not finalised a deal with one of the commercial partners.

@MorganPiek OFMSport